This invention relates generally to a toy bank for saving coins and specifically is directed to coin banks having transparent parts to enable the user to observe the progress of coins moving from a coin entry slot through a path to a receptacle for the coins.
Savings banks for coins are well known and have been used for many years, particularly to encourage savings among small children. Some of the earliest and most popular coin banks comprise ceramic containers in interesting shapes such as the well known "piggy-bank". Over the years, different configurations of savings banks have been introduced utilizing different forms and adding innovations to create an entertainment value or a curiosity builder in conjunction with the use of the bank and the depositing of coins in it. Some of these early configurations involved complex moving mechanical parts which render them relatively expensive and susceptible to failure. Other coin savings banks have been developed to cause the coins to move through various paths through a chute or channel to the final receptacle. Typically, banks of this type are made of transparent material to permit observation of the path of the coin as it moves through the chute or guide channel after it is deposited in the entry slot.
A variety of configurations have been devised to stimulate the interest of a child in placing money in a savings bank and thereby saving money. An early patent directed to a simple approach to stimulating such interest is the Patent to Breul U.S. Pat. No. 500,848. This patent is directed to a bank in the shape of a house which includes a coin slot in the roof for receiving coins of different denominations. All of the coins fall into a common collection area.
Three patents directed to transparent coin banks which separate the coins in accordance with their type or denomination are the Patents to Brown U.S. Pat. No. 3,313,477; Thompson U.S. Pat. No. Des. 160,133; and Spirk U.S. Pat. No. Des. 283,075. The Brown Patent is directed to a transparent bank in which the deposited coins are automatically segregated and counted. They are stacked in compartments according to the type of coin (pennies, nickels, dimes, etc.) and are visible from the point of deposit through the sorting stages to the stacking of the coins in the segregated stacks. The Thompson Patent simply is a transparent patent which has four separate columns provided for different denominations of coins. It is necessary to insert the proper coin at the top of each column for deposit in the bank. The Spirk Patent is an ornamental design for a transparent savings bank which appears to have some type of sorting mechanism in it, although this cannot readily be ascertained from an examination of this patent. The banks of all three of these patents are of fixed construction, that is, no variations in their form is possible or contemplated.
A different approach to providing an incentive for saving coins is disclosed in the Patent to Fulton U.S. Pat. No. 3,143,285. The bank disclosed in this patent has at least two (2) coin receiving compartments, each contemplated to be allotted to a different individual. The object of this bank is to provide an incentive or encouragement, by means of competition, to save by matching deposits coin-for-coin.
Savings banks which are designed to create interest in savings by means of observation of the movement of a coin from the coin receiving slot through a channel or guide, are disclosed in the Patents to Reynolds U.S. Pat. No. 2,749,656 and Ginsberg U.S. Pat. No. 2,771,707. The bank disclosed in the Reynolds Patent has an inclined, longitudinally extending rack through which the coin travels. During the travel, the coin rotates about a transverse axis passing through its center, so that it spins on its way from the point of deposit to the ultimate receptacle.
The Ginsberg Patent discloses a bank which has various baffles in the path from the coin entry slot to cause the coin either to be delivered out through a central opening or to be retained within a receptacle at the bottom of the bank. If the coin is delivered out through the opening, the child may redeposit the coin. The baffle section of the bank is transparent, so that the path of the coin may be observed by the child making the deposit.
A final modular bank which also serves a second (actually primary) purpose of teaching spelling, is disclosed in the Patent to Greene U.S. Pat. No. 2,519,884. This patent primarily is directed to simple spelling blocks which are interconnected together to form a picture of the word spelled, as well as presenting the letters of the word in their proper sequence. One version has each of the blocks made in the form of separate savings banks, which may be configured to receive coins of different sizes, if desired. The collection slots are simply provided at the top of each of the individual blocks; and the blocks are not selectively configurable, that is there is only one configuration which can be made to interconnect them together. In addition, the blocks are not transparent and the coins deposited in the different blocks do not fall into a common collection receptacle.
It is desirable to provide a savings bank which stimulates interest in a child to place coins in the bank and thereby save them, while at the same time providing additional interest in permitting the child to configure the bank in a variety of different forms, so that his or her interest level is sustained.